Luke 12:41ff - Until the Master Returns

Introduction

We have been talking about the Master’s return—the second coming of Jesus.

In every sermon for the last three weeks, the big idea has been to be ready for the Master’s return.

We’ve seen will be unexpected, but we can be blessed when He comes if we remain ready.

Today, however, we are going to look at Jesus’ response to Peter’s question in Luke 12:41...

Luke 12:41 NASB95

41 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?”

We Jesus’ response in vv. 42-48.

[READING - Luke 12:42-48]

Luke 12:42–48 NASB95

42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

[PRAYER]

[ILLUS] Many days after breakfast, Scripture memory, Bible study, and prayer, Cheryl and I remind our kids of the habits we are pursuing. Those habits include things like...

…little by little, which is the habit of cleaning up little by little through the day so there isn’t a big mess to clean up at the end of the day.

…first time right away, which is the habit of doing what you’re told as soon as you’re told to do it.

…being temperate, which is the habit of being good natured; not sullen or sulky. (When we are sullen or sulky, we’ll say to one another, “Smile for 20 seconds,” and that usually lightens things up.)

But another habit we’re working on is the habit of staying on task—or stated negatively, no dawdling!

To dawdle is to do things aimlessly, without focus or attention. It’s to be distracted by other things instead of focused on what you should be doing.

It’s easy to dawdle today away and find ourselves behind tomorrow.

If that’s true with our daily tasks, how much more so with our spiritual tasks.

Brothers and sisters, when the Master returns, we want Him to find us on task.

We do not want Him to find us dawdling.

[INTER] So, what are we to be focused on until the Master comes?

[TS] Let’s take a look a few different things Jesus mentioned in this passage....

Major Ideas

#1: Feed the servants—the faithful servant (vv. 41-44).

Luke 12:41–44 NASB95

41 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

[Exp] So, in regard to the preceeding parable on the thief in the night, Peter asks who it applies to? Jesus—in a round about way—says that it applies to everyone who claims to be a slave of the the Master.

It applies to faithful slaves, which are discussed here in verses 42-43.

And, as the verses that follow show, it applies to unfaithful slaves, lazy slaves, and ignorant slaves too.

All the Master’s slaves must be ready at all times for His unexpected return.

The question is: What kind of slave will you be when the Master returns?

We should all strive to be that faithful slave who gives other slaves of the Master their rations at the proper time. What does that mean?

Peter no doubt wanted to sharpen swords and fight robbers in the middle of the night, but while the Master will come like a thief in the night, we do not prepare for His coming as we would a thief.

No, you remember when we talked about Luke 12:35-35—our first sermon in this little series on the return of Jesus—that I said to be ready for the Master, we must be saved, sanctified, and serving.

What Jesus says in Luke 12:42 refers to service—especially serving those other members of the Master’s household, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jesus is the Master.

Those that follow Him are His servants.

His faithful servants are those who serve His other servants as they have need.

The servants that do that will be blessed and rewarded with more responsibility in the Master’s Kingdom.

[Illus] One day I’m in the office and the phone rings. It’s a local number, so I answer the call. Immediately I knew that the lady on the end was look for some sort of help. She told me a long story about where she used to go to church and how good those people were to her. Something I can’t remember now had stopped her from attending, but she needed help. On and on she went, until finally, I said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry; did you need help with your power bill or groceries or something like that?” She said, “No. I just need somewhere to put my cat in the air conditioning for a couple hours.” (Immediately I thought this is Travis prank calling the church again.) I think I asked—more out of curiosity than anything—if the cat was still alive, and she said it was. I then said, “Well, ma’am; I’m sorry but we don’t really do that kind of thing.” She went to rambling again, I think I just slowly hung up the phone and made sure all the doors were locked.

Now, I tell that story to ask, “Was that something I should have done?” I mean, she claimed to be fellow servant of Jesus, and if I want to be faithful when He comes, I need to be focused on meeting the needs of His servants. But did this lady really need what she was asking for? Not in my estimation. I’ve never heard of a cat dying of heatstroke.

But if we are to be focused on meeting needs, how are we to determine when someone really is in need?

[App] Let me give you a few thoughts on need...

Not many people in our country are truly materially needy. There are, however, many truly physically lazy people in our country. We must discern between the truly needy and the truly lazy. We are called—indeed, we must—help the needy. But we are not called to reward the lazy.

Furthermore, not all needs are material—in fact, the most important needs are not material needs at all. Relational needs, emotional needs, and mental needs are all just as, if not more important that material needs. And, of course, there are spiritual needs (the most important needs), which if met will go along way toward meeting those relational, emotional, and mental needs as well.

Needs are not wants. Most of us have had everything we’ve wanted for so long that we can’t imagine living any other way, so we conveniently merge our needs with our wants. We’ve done that so much that now we can’t tell the difference between the two. When we think we are in need, we must discern if it’s really a need or just a want. When someone asks us for help, we must discern if that need is really just a want. If it’s truly a need, we should help if we are able. If it’s not, then we aren’t obligated to help.

A final thought on need is this—the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ take priority. Yes, we should help meet the needs of those outside the church as well, but the first priority in meeting needs is meeting needs within the church.

If we would be found faithful, then we must faithfully serve the other servants of the Lord Jesus as they have need.

We will be blessed and reward if the Master so finds us doing when He returns.

[TS] ...

#2: Beware the Master—the unfaithful servant (vv. 45-46).

Luke 12:45–46 NASB95

45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

[Exp] We want to be found faithful when the Master returns, so we serve our fellow servants, and we dare not dawdle in doing so. But there is something worse than dawdling and that is outright unbelief and rebellion. That’s what we see in this unfaithful slave in vv. 45-46—an unfaithful slave who had better beware the Master.

The unfaithful servant is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He is a charlatan masquerading as a minister. He may have started out faithful, but when the Master didn’t return soon, he began to believe that the Master was delayed. Perhaps He wouldn’t come at all.

This unbelief in the Master’s return means that he believed he wouldn’t face the Master. He wouldn’t answer to Him. And if he didn’t have to answer to the Master, then he wouldn’t have to answer to anyone. What does this lead to?

The unfaithful servant begins to be abusive.

He beats the male and female servants (v. 45c).

The unfaithful servant begins to be worldly.

He eats, drinks, and gets drunk (v. 45d).

[Illus/App] We may think to ourselves, “I’m sure glad there’s no evangelists, pastors, ministers, or just plain ol’ church members like that in the church today,” but the church is full of them! There are so many stories of abusive pastors and abusive Christians in general.

A few year ago, the SBC found itself responding to an expose’, which revealed a shocking amount of sexual abuse at the hands of ministers within SBC churches.

Every so-called evangelist, preacher, or pastor who would do such a thing is an unfaithful servant! He’s actually a wolf preying on God’s people, and He should NEVER work in a church again!

[Illus/App] But the unfaithful servant is not just abusive, he or she is also worldly. Rather than focusing on the things of the Master, he is focused on the things of the world—things like food, drink, and getting drunk.

How many supposed “servants of the Gospel” do we have today who proclaim a health and wealth, prosperity message because they are laser-focused on the things of this world?

These men are frauds, and they know they are—but they love the things of the world too much to stop scamming and swindling other servants of the Master.

These unfaithful servants—these wolves—are really unbelievers, non-Christians that do not know Jesus. Thus, they will be cast among the unbelievers.

[TS] ...

#3: Do your best—the lazy servant and the ignorant servant (vv. 47-48).

Luke 12:47–48 NASB95

47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

[Illus] Another habit we work on with our kids is do your best. Don’t make excuses—do your best. Do your best and you won’t have to do it twice.

Now, the habit of doing your best has two enemies—laziness and ignorance.

[Exp] The unfaithful servant—the one who abuses God’s people—will be cast among the unfaithful, the unbelievers, in hell. But there are two other types of servants mentioned in vv. 47-48. One is a slave who knows what the Master expects but doesn’t do it. The other is a slave who does not know what the Master expects and so does things that displease the Master.

The slave that knew but doesn’t act according to his Master’s wishes will receive many lashes.

The slave that didn’t know and so did not act according to his Master wishes will receive but few.

The point here is that, when preparing for the Master’s return, the servants are responsible to obey what they know the Master’s will to be.

The Master will reward them or discipline them according to their faithfulness.

[Illus] Let’s say that you own a small business with two employees. You leave your two employees in the office one day giving one of them specific instructions about what needs to be done. You tell the employee you’ve instructed to instruct the other one, but that doesn’t happen. You get back to the office at the end of the day and find that no work has been done. Neither employee has done anything.

Now, you will be most disappointed with the employee you instructed. Perhaps you will demote him or cut his pay.

Now, you will also be disappointed in the other employee—the one you didn’t tell about the work that needed to be done—because he didn’t do anything at work that day either. Perhaps this will be a point of discussion on an annual performance review, or maybe he will have to buy your lunch one day.

Each employee doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do.

But one employee knows specifically what his boss expects, so his punishment is more severe when he fails to do it.

The other employee is still disciplined, but his is less severe because he didn’t know what his boss expected.

[App] So, what do you know? After hearing what Jesus says here in vv. 47-48, you might be tempted to think, “Well, I’ll just stop learning what the Master, Jesus, expects—that way I won’t be held responsible for it when He comes.” But I’m afraid it’s too late. Jesus knows what you know, and you will be held responsible for it.

Furthermore, there are many commands in Scripture, which demand that we grow in the knowledge of what our Master expects. Second Peter 3:18 is just one example. It says...

2 Peter 3:18 NASB95

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

But as we grow in this grace and knowledge, we must put it to work. We must apply it, so that we will be found ready at the Master’s return. James 4:17 comes to mind...

James 4:17 NASB95

17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

I know our ambition is not to be found unfaithful when the Master returns. I know our ambition is not to be found disobedient when the Master returns. And our ambition should not be to be found ignorant when the Master returns.

Rather, our ambition is to be found ready when the Master returns and the only way to do that is be found faithful when the Master returns.

So, are you doing what you know you should be doing?

Are you obeying what you know Scripture teaches?

You may fool others.

You may fool yourself.

But you will not fool the Master.

So be sure you’re doing your best to do what you know the Master expects.

[TS] ...

Conclusion

One final thing before we’re done, and that is this—the Master knows who you are. This morning He knows if you’re faithful, unfaithful, lazy, or ignorant.

If you’re faithful, keep going.

If you’re anything else, now is the time for repentance.